NUTS no more…

Here’s hoping Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff didn’t get their new business cards and letter head yet.NBC Universal Television Studio is no more, per the news released this a.m. by the Peacock. The studio arm is being renamed Universal Media Studios, doing away with the mouthful of a moniker (and its unfortunate acronym, NUTS) that emerged after the formal merger of NBC and U in May 2004. (UMS may sound like a bank or something but at least it’s harder to make fun of.) So now Silverman and Graboff are co-chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. The NBC-free name may also be more conducive to the studio producing for non-NBC U outlets, though with NBC, USA, Sci Fi, Bravo and a growing number of digital platforms to feed it would seem that studio prexy Katherine Pope and her team have plenty to do in-house. Or as Ben says with characteristic modesty: "NBC Universal is the premier content company on the planet and this name change reflects our TV studio’s natural evolution as digital distribution expands and more platforms need premier ideas and programming."